How a Manufacturing Service Provider Can Utilize NextShapes ABS Like Plus to Manufacture Durable Functional Components with 3D Printing Technology

     2026.04.24                          NextShapes, ABS Like Plus,3D Printing                ＜1 minute                                                                                  

Although 3D Printing has widely penetrated the manufacturing industry, many small and medium-sized engineering service providers still face a gap between material performance and end applications. Standard resins are brittle and not durable, while industrial-grade thermoplastic 3D printers are costly and complicated to operate. So, how can they quickly produce functional parts that are both precise, tough, and durable while staying within budget?

Some leading service providers have found a solution by turning to high-performance LCD/DLP photopolymer materials. We spoke with the additive manufacturing manager of a Midwest engineering company that provides rapid prototyping services for the automotive and consumer electronics industries to understand how they integrated NextShapes 405nm ABS Like Plus 3D resin into their workflow.

"We chose ABS Like Plus primarily because of the balance between material performance and cost. In the past, we used standard resins for functional parts, but they were too brittle to pass assembly tests. ABS Like Plus allows us to directly 3D print parts that are strong enough for real-world functional testing with our existing LCD printers, reducing the per-part cost by about 60%."
— Head of Additive Manufacturing at the company

Manufacturing Service Providers for Rapid Prototyping and Tooling Needs

The company leans more toward being a "rapid-response manufacturing partner" rather than a mass producer. Their clients are mostly small and medium-sized equipment developers and startup hardware teams, who need to quickly receive functional parts like enclosures, snap-fit components, jigs, and fixtures. About 70% of their orders involve functional prototype verification or small batch production tools, while the remaining 30% includes replacement parts and assembly line tooling.

"Our clients rarely require millions of units, but almost all of them demand 'usable parts by next week.' ABS Like Plus' white appearance closely resembles engineering plastics, and parts can be drilled and tapped directly after removal from the printer, which allows us to cut delivery times in half compared to traditional methods."

Although the 3D print quantities per batch aren't large, the company needs to deliver over 200 functional parts each month, most of which are used for internal testing or assisting on assembly lines. A typical repeat order is for custom jigs provided for an automated production line, with a monthly demand of around 50 sets. As the assembly line has high durability and dimensional stability requirements for the jigs, they have been looking for a 3D printing material that is both precise and durable.

Upgrading Materials from Appearance Prototypes to Functional Components

Transitioning from standard resins to engineering-grade photopolymer resins was not an immediate switch. The company's technical team initially thought that all photopolymers were "brittle and prone to deformation." After testing various materials, ABS Like Plus changed its perspective.

"Our first 3D print with ABS Like Plus was a housing prototype with a moving snap-fit. The snap-fit survived over 20 cycles of opening and closing without breaking, which was impossible with previous resins. Its toughness allowed us to conduct real-world assembly tests with the 3D printed part, rather than just 'checking the look."

Previously, the company had used both FDM printing and standard LCD resin for parts manufacturing. For assembly parts that required drilling or tapping, the parts printed with standard resin would often crack at the threads, while FDM parts, although tough enough, had long print and post-processing times in small batch, rapid iteration scenarios. ABS Like Plus, with its high hardness, ability to be drilled and tapped, and quick print capabilities, became the ideal choice—offering the practicality of FDM parts while retaining the fine detail precision and surface quality of photopolymer printing.

Manufacturing Durable Functional Parts with LCD/DLP Workflow

To meet their clients' demands for functional assembly parts, the company set out key requirements: the material had to be easy to clean and post-process, provide good rigidity without being too brittle, and maintain precision on small features like snap-fits and screw posts. ABS Like Plus met all of these criteria perfectly.

"The entire printing and post-processing workflow is very smooth. We use a regular 405nm LCD printer with a standard layer thickness of 50 microns, leveraging LCD 3D printing technology for its speed and accuracy. Cleaning with 95% alcohol twice is all it takes—it's easier than cleaning regular resins. After curing, the surface hardness of the parts feels like engineering plastics, but we can drill holes directly without worrying about cracking."

The company specifically mentioned that the "easy cleaning" feature of ABS Like Plus significantly impacted production efficiency. Regular resins often require secondary curing or long drying times or complex cleaning steps, whereas ABS Like Plus can be cleaned with standard processes and undergo short curing times before being ready for machining.

"Previously, when using other engineering resins, we had to wait at least 30 minutes to remove supports, and the parts' surfaces were always sticky. With ABS Like Plus, the surface is dry after cleaning, and support removal is straightforward with no soft spots. We can finish cleaning, support removal, drilling, and tapping within an hour of 3D printing and then directly send it to the assembly line for testing."

For a set of six parts (enclosure, snap-fit, two fixtures), using ABS Like Plus, the cost of materials and labor per set is about $12, compared to $45 when using other solutions. By printing three sets per week, they recouped the cost of the dedicated printer for this project within two months.

The Ideal Material for Small Batch Functional Parts Production

3D printing for product design has traditionally focused on form and fit, but functional testing demands more. 3D printed functional prototypes and tooling jigs don't always require the highest-performance materials. The key is finding the balance of "good enough and fast enough." For applications that require real-world assembly testing, limited functional validation cycles, or low-stress tooling, ABS Like Plus provides the ideal cost-effectiveness.

"If a client needs 10,000 parts, we would still consider injection molding. But for validation batches of 100 to 500 parts or production line fixtures, ABS Like Plus is perfect. A simple injection mold might cost $5,000, but printing all the validation parts with this 3D resin only costs a few hundred dollars in materials and time. We can validate the design perfectly before deciding whether to go for injection molding."

The company's experience shows that with high toughness and easy post-processing LCD/DLP materials like ABS Like Plus, service providers can significantly expand the application boundaries of photopolymer 3D Printing—moving directly from appearance prototypes to functional components and small-batch tooling production without adding complexity to the equipment.